Latest news with #UtahAttorneyGeneral'sOffice
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Kanab sex offender charged with 50 felonies for sexual exploitation of a minor
Report child sexual assault material to law enforcement by contacting the ICAC Tip Line at (801) 281-1211 or your local law enforcement agency. KANAB, Utah () — A registered sex offender in Kanab has been arrested after a cyber tip revealed he possessed Child Sexual Assault Material (CSAM). Law enforcement says that he poses a risk to minors in the community due to what was found at his home. Tyi Kay McKinlay, 43, has been charged with 50 felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one misdemeanor count of possession of a child sex doll. He was previously convicted of sexual abuse of a child in 2004 and was placed on the sex offender registry. According to documents, on May 1, an officer with the Kane County Sheriff's Office received a case assignment from the Utah Attorney General's Office Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. A CyberTipline report from Google reported that more than 100 files of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) were associated with a Gmail account. Sex offender arrested for attempting to meet child in Lehi, documents say On May 12, the officer received another case assignment, this time with 1,668 files of CSAM associated with the Gmail account. The name on the account was McKinlay's, and the date of birth matched his. An IP geolocation also matched McKinlay. The officer confirmed that at least 50 files of CSAM were on McKinlay's cell phone. On May 28, a search warrant for McKinlay's vehicle, person, and house in Kanab revealed he had several disturbing possessions. According to the officer, McKinlay had photos of local, underage females and a jar containing a female child's underwear. He was also in possession of a doll depicting an underage female child. McKinlay was booked into the Kane County Jail and is currently being held without bail due to the risk officers believe he poses to the community. Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. SLCPD arrest man for nearly hitting officers with vehicle while fleeing traffic stop Utah unveils new housing dashboard in effort to hit 'moonshot' goal of building 35,000 starter homes DOJ cutting American Bar Association access to judicial nominees Kanab sex offender charged with 50 felonies for sexual exploitation of a minor Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT: The EV Revolutionizer Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Director of group home where 16-year-old escaped and was killed by police charged by Utah AG
Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. SANDY, Utah () — In November 2023, a 16-year-old with a disability was after stealing a vehicle and striking a motorcyclist. Documents and search warrants revealed that his escape from a group home was not due to an accident, but rather alleged neglect by his caretakers. Hanan Obied, 25, has been charged with two felony counts of abuse or neglect of a child with a disability, four felony counts of tampering with a witness, one misdemeanor count of tampering with evidence, and one misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Sandy Police release bodycam of shooting involving officers According to an indictment filed by attorneys for the Utah Attorney General's Office, Obied was a director for Future Rising Agency, LLC. The 16-year-old was placed in the custody and care of the agency and moved to the group home managed by Obied. He had previously escaped a different group home on Oct. 31, 2023. Documents say that Obied failed to put safety measures in place to prevent him from leaving. A search warrant from the Sandy City Police Department that was unsealed earlier this year revealed that the 16-year-old's Person Centered Support Plan (PCSP) from the Utah Division of Services for People with Disabilities had 'a number of security/safety recommendations for Future Rising to follow, which included having 'locks and alarms on all doors and windows' and being supervised '24/7.'' The 16-year-old had a history of eloping, according to police, and a juvenile-court judge had ordered these safety measures to be put in place at the home. Documents say that Obied 'made assurances to the judge that additional safety measures would be put in place prior to Future Rising taking custody.' A walkthrough by the minor's support coordinator revealed that the residence in Bluffdale did not have alarms or locks installed on Nov. 8, 2023, the day he moved in. The support coordinator told police that she was told alarms and locks would be installed the following day. She reminded the caretakers that he needed to be watched closely until those locks and alarms were installed. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 16-year-old killed in Sandy officer-involved shooting According to police, in the early morning hours of the following day, Nov. 9, 2023, the 16-year-old eloped from the house. He would steal a vehicle in Bluffdale and then go on to steal a minivan from an army recruitment office in Sandy. Police responded and found the first stolen crashed in Sandy around 6:17 a.m. The 16-year-old would then be located by police in the stolen minivan around 12:24 p.m. and strike a motorcyclist while fleeing from Sandy officers. Police fired at the 16-year-old, and he received a gunshot wound that would lead to his death. The search warrant from Sandy police states that he was declared dead at 1:42 p.m. at the hospital. According to Sandy officers, the 16-year-old was not noticed to be missing until 11 a.m. on Nov. 9. A staff member arrived and noticed he was not there. When she reported it to her directors, they told her not to tell anybody until they had investigated what happened. Around 5 p.m., the staff member was told to call the Bluffdale Police Department and tell them he had run away from the West Jordan Library around 2 p.m. According to charging documents, the 16-year-old's PCSP stated that if he were to elope, the police should immediately be contacted. Obied did not contact the police when she found out he was missing, and instead allegedly lied to the teen's support coordinator and parents about his location, saying he was last seen at the library at 2 p.m. She also lied to them that she had already notified the police. Man shot and killed by Salt Lake City Police during response to domestic violence call After the 16-year-old's parents were notified of his death, Obied continued to tell them that he had run away from the library and she had notified police. Extensive communication between different employees of Future Rising Agency, shared in documents, reveals that they worked together to cover up the truth of how the 16-year-old escaped the home. In an 'impromptu' meeting at 1 a.m. on Nov. 10, 2023, Obied instructed her colleagues and employees to delete all messages and communications they had regarding the 16-year-old's escape from the group home. The employee who had discovered the 16-year-old was missing and contacted the directors deleted her messages during this meeting, but had already screenshotted evidence and shared it with her son. She would later share these messages with the support coordinator's business partner. Alzheimer's Association Utah providing resources, research, and real support for families Plexaderm: Smoother skin in 10 minutes, no needles required Man charged with alleged sexual abuse of human trafficking victim in Duchesne County Sun cloud mix with a few spotty afternoon showers possible TRAFFIC ALERT: Southbound I-15 closed near Payson after deadly crash Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Will Ralph Menzies' dementia keep him from a firing squad? Attorneys make final argument
Ralph Leroy Menzies during a competency hearing in 3rd District Court in West Jordan on Monday, Nov 18, 2024. (Pool photo by Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune) After nearly 40 years on death row, a judge will soon determine whether Ralph Menzies' dementia is advanced enough to spare him from being executed by firing squad. Lawyers for the 67-year-old convicted murderer say his brain is so damaged he can't form a 'rational understanding' of why the state is pursuing the death penalty — prosecutors for the Utah Attorney General's Office say while Menzies might be impaired, he is still 'clearly competent.' Attorneys for both sides met at the 3rd District Courthouse in West Jordan on Wednesday to make their final oral arguments before Judge Matthew Bates, who will issue a ruling sometime in the next 60 days. It marked what is likely one of the final hearings to determine whether Menzies is competent enough to face execution, the end of a monthslong process that included testimony from numerous medical experts and the victim's family. The competency hearing began in November, but due to scheduling and logistical conflicts, final oral arguments were pushed to May 7. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Menzies was brought into the West Jordan courtroom at about 2 p.m. Wednesday. The death row inmate sat in a wheelchair with oxygen tubes running up his nose during the hearing, sporting a scruffy, somewhat unkempt white beard and short, receding brownish-grey hair. He would occasionally lean over to speak with members of his legal team, but otherwise sat in silence during the roughly hour-long hearing. Menzies was sentenced to death in 1988 after he kidnapped and murdered Maurine Hunsaker, a 26-year-old gas station clerk. Menzies took her up Big Cottonwood Canyon, where she was later found tied to a tree with her throat slashed. In recent years, Menzies' health has deteriorated, his attorneys say. After falling several times in prison, he was diagnosed with vascular dementia, where the brain's blood flow is disrupted, leading to memory loss and declining cognitive function. An MRI exam showed Menzies' brain tissue is deteriorating, and his balance is fraught, causing him to fall several times each month. According to his attorneys, Menzies is so impaired by his dementia that he does not have a 'rational understanding' of why he is facing execution, meaning he can't make the link between his crime and the punishment. That means society's goal of retribution and deterrence — the foundational goals of the death penalty — aren't being fulfilled, they say. Per Utah code, and U.S. Supreme Court case law, that means he should be deemed too incompetent to face an execution, his lawyers say. On Wednesday, Menzies' attorney Lindsey Layer pointed to MRI results that showed the death row inmate had 'the highest level' of brain damage, with parts of it atrophied and filled with fluid. There are also the physical signs, backed by the medical experts hired by Menzies' attorneys who found him to be incompetent. He struggles with basic activities, Layer said, like forgetting to bathe, flush the toilet or renew medication, and often has issues with his personal finances and the prison commissary (a store for inmates). 'His inability to engage in what is a fairly simple process of renewing his medication,' said Layer, 'demonstrates his inability to engage in that analytical thought that is necessary to have a rational understanding of the state's reasoning for his execution.' That rational understanding was at the heart of Layer's argument, and she repeatedly underscored the difference between awareness and understanding. 'Mr. Menzies can understand the concrete things,' Layer said. 'He can understand, 'I was sentenced to death and the state is going to kill me.' But what he can't understand is the how or why.' Daniel Boyer with the Utah Attorney General's Office pushed back on the standard of competency outlined by Layer, telling the judge Menzies simply needs to understand why the state is pursuing his execution. If the court agrees with that standard, Boyer said, 'he's clearly competent.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Boyer encouraged Bates to listen to recordings of Menzies' recent phone conversations, which show 'his ability to converse, to problem solve' — and Menzies' use of his prison-issued tablet. 'I think the tablet is a good indicator of his competency,' Boyer said, noting that he can buy items from the commissary, check his finances, and access prison rules and policies. 'This showed an extraordinarily high level of functioning.' Matt Hunsaker, Maurine's son, gave his first statement to the court since the competency hearing began last year. In the decades since his mother's murder, he's attended hearing after hearing, read countless rulings and court orders, and advocated nonstop for Menzies' execution. It's the end of the road for Hunsaker. If Bates finds Menzies incompetent to be executed, he won't protest the ruling. 'I don't envy you for the decision you have to make,' Hunsaker told Bates. 'I just want to put it out there — this man took my mom from a gas station where she was trying to support her family.' Speaking to reporters outside of the courtroom, Hunsaker repeated a familiar sentiment — he's tired of this. 'It's taken a toll on the whole family. There is some closure possibly ahead, but 39 years, two months, nine days, that's a long time,' he said. 'I've got a grandbaby now, it's time to shift the focus of wasting time on this, and bring a new little girl into the family.' Hunsaker didn't want to speculate on how Bates will rule, telling Utah News Dispatch 'there's good arguments on both sides.' 'My personal opinion is he's competent. He knows what he did. It's time to stop with the games. He needs to be executed. And again, I believe this is just a delay tactic,' he said. Bates, while asking several questions during both Menzies' and the state's arguments, offered no indication of how he would rule. He concluded Wednesday's hearing telling attorneys that he'll issue a ruling in the next 60 days. In Utah, death row inmates sentenced before May 2004 had a choice between lethal injection and firing squad. For those sentenced after 2004, the default method of execution is lethal injection, unless the necessary drugs are not available. Firing squads are rare in the U.S. But earlier this year, South Carolina executed two inmates by firing squad — Brad Sigmon and Mikal Mahdi — making it the first state other than Utah to utilize the method in the last several decades. According to the Associated Press, at least 144 civilian prisoners have been executed by firing squad in the U.S. since 1608, almost all of them in Utah.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Yahoo
Labor trafficking charges against Rubicon dismissed without prejudice
Labor trafficking charges have been dismissed against a Davis County general contracting company, but the state was given the option of refiling them. As of Friday, however, no additional state or federal charges had been filed. In November 2023, the founder and six executive members of Rubicon Contracting were charged with 14 counts each of aggravated human trafficking, a first-degree felony. The group was accused of recruiting about 150 people from Mexico to work for the company using H-2B visas. But once in Utah, charging documents allege the victims were paid very little and forced to live in deplorable housing provided by Rubicon while also being forced to pay rent under the threat of deportation. But following a contentious preliminary hearing in December, and while waiting for the judge to decide whether the state had met its burden of proof for the case to proceed to trial, the Utah Attorney General's Office asked for the charges to be dismissed because of a pending federal investigation. Defense attorneys agreed the case should be dismissed, but with prejudice, meaning the charges couldn't be filed again. In her ruling issued last month, 2nd District Judge Rita Cornish said she did not believe the state was engaging in "forum shopping." "(Rubicon has) argued that the state's motion is a thinly veiled attempt at forum shopping because it was filed when the court had taken under advisement the decision on the preliminary hearing. (Rubicon) argues that the state seeks to avoid an adverse ruling by seeking dismissal without prejudice and that the state's prosecution in this case has been characterized by pervasive misconduct," Cornish said in her ruling. She also acknowledged that prosecutors were seeking dismissal because it was unable to obtain evidence from some federal agencies and that the crimes allegedly committed by Rubicon were federal violations that would be better dealt with in federal court. "Though the state never expressly states that it failed to carry its burden at the preliminary hearing, it suggests that it failed to present evidence from a variety of sources that would have otherwise been available to it," the ruling says. "The court cannot find that the state is forum shopping," Cornish continued. "And, the court agrees that the facts and circumstances giving rise to these charges implicate a number of federal laws and regulations, the violation of which would be better pursued in a federal forum." As for allegations of misconduct by the prosecution, the judge ruled that "while the court is convinced that these charges were premature, and the state has been disorganized in presenting them, it is not yet convinced that the state has engaged in misconduct. ... Notably, the fact that the state prematurely filed charges before having adequate evidence to support them provides a reasonable ground to dismiss the charges as the state has requested." Cornish said she is sympathetic to the time, effort and expense that Rubicon has spent defending itself. 'Despite those weighty burdens, they do not rise to the level that overcomes the presumption that the case should be dismissed without prejudice,' the judge said while dismissing the charge without prejudice, meaning prosecutors have the option of potentially filing them again.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Utah senator says former AG Reyes' office used lawmakers as ‘pawns' in push for increased penalties
The office of the Utah Attorney General at the Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) A Utah state senator said the Utah Attorney General's Office, under the leadership of Sean Reyes, used lawmakers as 'pawns' to advocate for increased penalties for certain sex crimes, which critics argue would lead to more people being convicted of first-degree felonies. The comment came on Friday morning from Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, during a Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee meeting where lawmakers were considering a bill that makes a number of tweaks to the state criminal code regarding sex crimes involving children. Sponsored by Sen. Karen Kwan, D-Taylorsville, SB144 passed out of the committee after a 5-2 vote, with Weiler and Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, voting 'no.' Weiler's opposition, he told the committee, in part stems from a controversial provision in the bill that would increase the penalty for someone involved in the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material — also referred to as child pornography — from a second-degree felony, to a first-degree penalty. Under current law, distributing or producing child sexual abuse material is a second-degree felony unless the victim is under 14 years old. In that case, the perpetrator can be charged with a first-degree felony. Kwan's bill would eliminate that carveout, enhancing the penalty across the board. Assistant Attorney General Carl Holland, who presented the bill with Kwan, described a situation where a group of men filmed the rape of a 15-year-old girl. The man convicted of filming and distributing the video faced the same criminal penalty as someone who 'simply downloaded pictures of some stranger online.' 'But that filming and distribution caused a different magnitude of harm that this victim is going to have to deal with for the rest of their life,' Holland said. 'Distribution is different. Distribution does not permit victims to heal.' First-degree felonies are reserved for the most serious crimes, like murder, rape or child kidnapping, and critics of the bill worry about putting the distribution of child sexual abuse material on the same plane. Plus, the bill changes the language in existing code so someone who downloads child sexual abuse material — possibly on accident — but doesn't view it, could still be hit with a first-degree felony. 'If someone kidnapped the child, instead of photographing them, and murdered them, it would also be a first-degree felony,' said Weiler, an attorney. 'So you want to elevate photographing a child to essentially the same crime as murdering them?' The bill also undoes an agreement that happened more than two years ago between lawmakers, defense attorneys and the Utah Attorney General's Office, which added to Weiler's concerns. In 2023, Sen. Chris Wilson, R-Logan, proposed a similar bill, which raised the same concerns from the same Senate committee and defense attorneys. 'For the very first time, it created a first-degree felony for a hands-off sexual offense,' said Mark Moffat with the Utah Defense Attorney Association. Moffat met with Wilson and representatives from the attorney general's office, and negotiated the bill at length, resulting in the current state code which imposes a first-degree felony if the victim is under 14 years old. But over the summer, Weiler says, the attorney general's office tried to undo those negotiations, approaching Kwan and Rep. Stephen Whyte, R-Mapleton, who is sponsoring a similar bill that already passed the House. 'The attorney general's office circumvented that process and went to Sen. Kwan and Rep. Whyte to get everything that they wanted in Sen. Wilson's bill. They left me out of that process, they left out the other members of my committee from two years ago that were involved. And I believe, unfortunately, they used Sen. Kwan and Rep. Whyte as pawns,' Weiler said on Friday, before clarifying it was 'long before Derek Brown was elected, so it all happened under Sean Reyes.' Kwan said she wasn't aware of the history behind the bill. Regardless, she said there's a need to advance it. The internet is ever evolving, she said, and in the two years since the negotiations took place, a lot has changed. 'The internet moves very quickly and these perpetrators are able to find loopholes, and we need to make sure we are protecting the kids at whatever age they are,' she said. 'This is a lifelong sentence for our victims who are going through this and get revictimized every time those pictures get shared.' Why does raising the penalty matter? Isn't it good to throw harsher charges at people involved in the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material? 'We're not here to say it doesn't cause damage,' said Moffat. 'But there's a significant difference between viewing images and physically assaulting a child.' According to critics of the bill, and the legislature's affinity for increasing punishments and creating new criminal penalties, the approach can lead to a loss in taxpayer dollars without actually reducing crime. With new laws, is Utah holding criminals accountable or adding to mass incarceration? 'Most of these (bills) are increasing consequences for behavior that is already illegal,' said Moffat. 'When you increase penalties, you increase the exposure that people have in prison.' That could lead to overcrowding, which can make prisons less safe — and in turn can make it harder to recruit and retain employees. Bills that impose mandatory minimum sentences also take discretion away from courts and the Utah Board of Pardons & Parole. Ultimately the bill passed, but some Republicans on the committee Friday seemed hesitant before voting 'yes.' Sen. Mike Mckell, R-Spanish Fork, said 'there are still some concerns that need to be worked out,' while Sen. Calvin Musselman, R-West Haven, said lawmakers should be 'cautious' moving forward. 'We've enhanced penalties over and over again. I've never seen a reduction. On anything. Ever,' Musselman said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
